“Like winds and sunsets, wild things were taken for granted until progress began to do away with them. Now we face the question whether a still higher ‘standard of living’ is worth its cost in things natural, wild and free.” -- Aldo Leopold
Well, in the hands of a master ... sure. In the encounter I mentioned, the offender was a clown - literally. That was his day job. And he didn't even ask. He just whipped it out, because he was a friend of the fiddler who was sitting in. Somehow he thought it would be just the thing, to jam at someone else's gig on a song he didn't know in a genre that doesn't call for that sort of "embellishment." Yeesh!
I've heard it played amazingly well. It shows up on a song or two by R. Crumb And The Cheap Suit Serenaders. Novelty tunes. In a studio. Planned in advance. None of these were true in this instance.
So, I thought I'd include the all-but-forgotten device, rescue it from its overlooked oblivion. Didn't mean to cause any distress.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
I enjoy a musical saw, well played, but not for every tune in a show.
In a similar experience to journeybear's, my brother told me that once at an outdoor festival he attended, a harmonica player planted himself on the corner of a stage and started playing along with a bluesman, uninvited. After a while, the performer asked, "Can I see that?" The proud amateur smiled and passed over his harmonica. The performer studied it carefully for a bit, then pitched it stage left, into an unmown field. A bit harsh perhaps, but he made his point.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
To be fair to the aforementioned clown, he did knock it off after a song or two, and did at least look for a yea or nay. It was indeed "nay."
Your bluesman should have tossed the offender a ten spot for his trouble. Maybe not.
A long long time ago - 90s? - there was an elderly gent with a bit of a bent-over back who got quite a kick out of playing bones at festivals, Philly mostly, that I saw. Double bones, actually, a set in each hands. He got called Mr. Bones, naturally, and would hang out near the stage, merrily clacking away. He would get invited on stage now and then, as he did make a loud enough racket and was actually pretty good. The thing was, he would keep at it for the whole set. Even on slow numbers. If you were nearby, you had better like what he was doing, as he was inescapable. And being elderly and somewhat physically disadvantaged, people were reluctant to ask him to stop. It was a problem.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
More from the Erlewine's regarding distress
https://youtu.be/uhQuJTc5yFY
Jim
My Stream on Soundcloud
19th Century Tunes
Playing lately:
1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1
Is that a crosscut saw or a rip saw? How many TPI? Is the handle torrified? Is there any distressing on the blade? I'm guessing that Lloyd would only have played a a high end saw, perhaps a Disston from the early Pennsylvania era. I'll now crawl back into my cave.
Ratliff R5 2007, Capek A5 2003, Washburn M5S-SB Jethro Burns 1982, Mid-Mo M-2, Epiphone MM 30 Bk mandolins, Harmony Batwing 1970's, George Bauer bowlback early 1900's Philadelphia.
"Don't cloud the issue with facts!" Groucho Marx
I have two very distressed hand saws for sale cheap.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Ha ha ha! Ouch! That's how it is when things get so funny they hurt. Another reason you wouldn't want teeth on a musical saw is they're hard enough to rassle into being in tune, one wouldn't want to add anything to their character that would make them be sharp.
Oh, by the way, Marlene Dietrich was quite adept with the saw. Wish I could find her playing "Aloha Oe." But there's this - live audio from a radio broadcast, with some stills of her in action.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Now, if we're talking musical saw, this is probably the best use out there -
Brentrup Model 23, Boeh A5 #37, Gibson A Jr., Flatiron 1N, Coombe Classical flattop, Strad-O-Lin
https://www.facebook.com/LauluAika/
https://www.lauluaika.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Longtine-Am...14404553312723
JB, was the Bones guy Percy Danforth by any chance?
We ad him at a local one day festival here in Kalamazoo in maybe 1976(?) he was really amazing! He really made the normally annoying clatter very interesting!
That was a lifetime ago, wow!
Timothy F. Lewis
"If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett
Back in the day when you were looking to purchase a hand saw you picked your saw by how it sounded playing it. The better the sound the higher quality and consistency of the steel.
THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!
A marvelous, mirthful, majestic extension of "Monster Mash!" Magnificent! I think there's even a bit of MC, most clearly heard toward the end.
My ear worm of the musical saw is this gem from R. Crumb And The Cheap Suit Serenaders. As was often the custom of the era they extol, there are a couple of instrumental rounds before the song is sung, once, after which more instrumental rounds ensue. It is here, about 2:30-3:00, that one's attention should be alerted - or diverted. Fair warning - this passage includes not only musical saw, but also accordion and banjo. A rarely heard, terrible trifecta.
It's a charming novelty tune, done tongue-in-cheek yet with great respect and reverence for the form, era, and genre. I can scarcely believe my first band took a stab at this musical oddity. We did several others by these glorious galoots, notably "Singing In The Bathtub," our claim to fame. This one proved to be a bit beyond us. We had no musical saw; that part was shared between the fiddler and me.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Could be. Sounds vaguely familiar. My experience was from a generation later. Whoever it was, his "contribution" was conflicting. He was good, all right, but it was also a distraction, and thus a bit much. People had come to see and hear the performers on stage, not someone in the crowd, regardless of his talent. As the old philosopher once said, "Too much of a good thing does more harm than good."
Looking at this video, I think not. The guy I saw had a fairly pronounced bent back, perhaps evidence of scoliosis, which I don't see in Percy's presence. Again, fair warning: bones and banjo, a killer kombo.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
Furthering Mandolin Consciousness
Finders Keepers, my duo with the astoundingly talented and versatile Patti Rothberg. Our EP is finally done, and available! PM me, while they last!
Wow, never heard anyone ever play a paper bag and harmonica at the same time. Bones playing seems to have much in common with clogging. I noticed those are antiqued / distressed bones which I think is the only way they come.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
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